Ashley's Items of Interest

Friday, March 26, 2004

SV Trip 2003: The Crays - Cray 2

SV Trip 2003: The Crays - Cray 1

[From my trip to Silicon Valley, California, in 2003]
Two good images of Cray supercomputers. These originally blew IBM's offerings out of the water in terms of performance. More history can be read here.

Thursday, March 25, 2004

SV Trip 2003: Connection Machine CM-1

[From my trip to Silicon Valley, California, in 2003]
The Computer History Museum doesn't just store personal computers, they also have many others. This is a Connection Machine CM-1 by Thinking Machines Inc. I was particularly interested in this because some previous work in my Ph.D. topic was performed on a Connection Machine CM-2 by Karl Sims. The box contains many processors that were coded in parallel.

Wednesday, March 24, 2004

SV Trip 2003: Altair 8800

[From my trip to Silicon Valley, California, in 2003]
One of the first personal computers, the Altair 8800 by MITS. A wealth of information is available here. Picture taken at the Computer History Museum in Mountain View.

Tuesday, March 23, 2004

SV Trip 2003: Apple I signed by Woz

[From my trip to Silicon Valley, California, in 2003]
Yesterday, I posted about the Apple I. Here is a picture of one of the early prototypes of the Apple I, signed by Woz (Steve Woznaik) (in the centre at the back). It is located in the Computer History Museum.

Monday, March 22, 2004

SV Trip 2003: Homebrew Computer Club

[From my trip to Silicon Valley, California, in 2003]

The letterhead from a newsletter of the Homebrew Computer Club. The Computer History Museum has the following to say:

"The legendary Homebrew Computer Club provided a meeting place for computer hobbyists, many of whom later become pioneers in the microcomputer industry in Silicon Valley. At its first meeting in March 1975, held in a Menlo Park, California garage, this group gathered to discuss the Altair 8800, an early build-it-yourself computer kit, and other technical topics. It was through Homebrew that Steve Wozniak heard about mail-order personal computers and set out to build, with Steve Jobs, the Apple I. Wozniak said he designed the Apple I as 'a way of showing off to my friends' at the Homebrew Computer Club. The club disbanded in 1986 but celebrated its 25th anniversary at a reunion in March 2001."